Testing Testing

7.22.2010

Single mindedness grows
test is near
and cruel
One's skill
and will
pitted in duel
I only fear
not bringing my best
to leave on cage floor

6.23.2010

Got up at 9, and fired up the French press. Eric popped out of his room midway though breakfast preparation. He's not feeling tip top, so he decided to sleep in before going to work. He seems to get sick a lot more than me. I'm almost to the last chapter of the Development Reader. Last essay in the next to last chapter is about Afghanistan, and how the west used the plight of women under Taliban rule to justify intervention. Even though it was the US's funneling of money and arms to the most fundamentalist and conservative groups during the Cold War that lead to the Taliban's formation. That's just the beginning of the essay I'm curious where it's going to go.

I talked to Kendra for the first time in a while. It was nice chatting with her, and I'm glad a boy's bringing her flowers. Part of the time I was talking to her, I was also riding to meet Tony at 41st and Clinton. We went to Taqueria los Gorditos for lunch. It was beautiful out. After some lounging in the backyard, a little nap, and a little php I jetted to the gym. I worked mitts, then some knees while controlling opponent against the cage, then strikes from half guard, and guard. With a little standing to sub thrown in. Ramon and I walked the block to Wholefoods after class was over. By the time we got back I had drank two coconut juices, and with my body cooled down I decided to hit the shower.

Headed to Tony's next. After some porch chilling he, Ben, and I played some Risk. In Risk now you complete objectives to win. You can play with all the territories pre pick out and evenly distributed. Makes for a much quicker game. We played 3. Tony took the first and I got the other two. Came home to chips and hummus. Now it's time for bed.

6.20.2010

Got up at a descent hour, but only got in a hint of shadow boxing. Mostly cause I was listening to This American Life, tweaking some HTML, and reading news. The first part of work seemed lame but then the caffeine kicked in. Second half was fun till crash bout an hour out from bounce time. Lounging on lunch outside I got a cute girl's number.

Headed to Tony's after punching out. The ride through the city during the day time was kind of weird since I almost always roll that route at night. Sam rolled over shortly after me. He, Amy, Tony, and I played some Risk. Three action packed hours later Sam won. Was a fun game. I wonder how it would have turned out had Ben, Amy's bother played? It was funny he started out not hype about it, but by the end was all into it. Tomorrow's Friday of weekend one yay! Sleepy time

6.19.2010

Yesterday went to a house show with Cole, Cathy, Mike, and Sam after going to the gym. None of the team coaches showed up so Ramon ran class. It was a light day for the most part though I did roll with Rick(black belt) after team. We did some jits with hits. It was a lot of me trying to escape from bottom, while also trying not to get somewhat lightly punched in the head. Before all that I had two miss fires; supposed to hang with cats that ended up being to tired to kick it.

Today allergies woke me up at 8, son of a bitch! I went to the gym before work. Class ended up being easier than expected, cause I was paired with a white belt smaller than me for most of the class. I did get to roll with a blue belt my size near the end of the the class, but it was short lived cause he bounced right when class was over.

Work was ok. I was in a real good mood for the last few hours, for no real reason. We ended getting out a few minutes early yay! On the way home I ran into the naked bike ride, stopped to watch for a sec. Damn there were a lot of peeps in that pack! Stopped and chatted with Tony at Clinton street video too, before heading back to the house. Gots to work at noon boo. I'm on a three allergy med cocktail; I can breath out my nose yay! I'm going to try and get up a little early and hit the bag a bit before work, cause after work I wants to kick it with peeps. Getting off at eight might be a nice change of pace, played right. Oh Yeah I watched Limits of Control today strange flick, I kind of liked it.

6.16.2010

I feel like there's never enough
to chase after where my desires run
Perhaps that's why life at times seems rough

With out a doubt I know I'm blessed
and in my early days had almost to much fun
I feel like there's never enough

To spend time with all those I call friend I'm hard pressed
recently I missed a BBQ or two beneath the sun
Perhaps that's why life at times seems rough

Though at least I'm not depressed
I strive to increase my happiness a ton
I feel like there's never enough

One day I'll look back, and life's hard part will be done
when that will be I'll have never guessed
Perhaps that's why life at times seems rough

I'm almost in the middle yet have only just begun
when I think about how much is left I'm less stressed
I feel like there's never enough
Perhaps that's why life at times seems rough

6.15.2010

Sunday worked out hard at the house, before work. After work met up with D and Joel to celebrate D's eminent departure to Europe. Yesterday not having hydrated after working out and having a few beers. A medium cup of coffee at the beginning of work dehydrated me into a hang over like experience. That along with the fact that an allergy pill D gave me caused me to sleep shitty, made yesterday one of the toughest days I've had in a long time.

6.10.2010

Lets see I got up and headed to the store for some much needed supplies, then got breakfast going. After which I grabbed the php book and set about trying to get this questionnaire form to work. The form is part of a internet dating website the book has you put together to test having a web form interact with multiple data bases. All of that sounds way more complicated then it is, but getting it to work took perhaps 3 hrs(today was day two of tinkering with it). I'd like to think going over it a bunch has helped me understand what the page is doing more, and that the process of finding the errors will help me find errors more quickly next time. The killer part is, the reason why it wasn't working. It didn't work because I had an extra in one spot and was missing a $ in another. There were a few other things wrong that I found them pretty quickly, but those two were the main hold outs. I learned from this experience, instead of trying to go through the code and eye ball your mistake. Download the error_log immediately. The error_log will usually tell you what line the mistake is in, that's causing the program not to work. The funny thing is even when you know what line the mistake is in, it can take you a bit to see it. Upon getting the page to work I decided to take a break and read.

I ended up taking the bus to work cause it was raining pretty hard. It was kind of nice just sitting and reading on the way to work. Work was OK, but I was in less than a rah rah mood. It's funny people(co-workers) expect you to be all full of pep and energy. When your not you get Whats wrong?, or Is everything OK? lame. Can't a cat just be kind of quite sometimes. One of the things keeping me from being bubbly was a knot in my back that was making my right thumb numb. It was weird just my thumb. I had a couple peeps rub the knot and my thumb went back to normal. The rolls at the gym were pretty intense yesterday; woke up sore today. Starting out grappling I never would have guessed your back played such a big role.

Yesterday I started out rolling with Ramon(who has 40lbs on me, but I have better cardio so at times it's kind of even) against the wall(by against the wall I mean, one person starts out with their back maybe a foot from a padded wall. Then the person in front of you grabs you and tries to get a take-down ). First we just did take-downs, then light hits, knees and take-downs, and then light hits, knees, and take-downs to submission(to many comas in that last sentence oh well). When team was over everyone at the gym lined up and Daemon got promoted to blue belt. I took a little break before rolling with Tim. Who I like to roll with a lot cause he's my size but he's better than me. Rolling with him I get close to pulling something off or I get on top for a sec, but can't settle. Sometimes getting beat is the only way to get better. Then I rolled with Douti. Him and me are pretty evenly matched. We rolled for a grip before stopping. Both of us real tired, but neither getting tapped.

No work tomorrow yay! I'm debating not going to the gym depending on how I feel(I'll prolly go). I should work on boxing at the house regardless. Maybe I'll make some bread, and I'm super close to finishing Bukowski reader. It's going to be nice hanging with Joleen in the evening haven't seen her in a while.

6.2.2010

Mostly been relaxing today. Finished the first season of Sons of Anarchy. I'm curious where they're going to take it in the second season. I like the show it's a good mix of violence and drama. Plus I've been thinking for a while, it would be cool to have a cycle. Talked to Anna for a bit, was nice. I'm trying not to feel bad about not hitting the books. I figure I'm going to do a bunch of physical stuff, which justifies being lazy on the brain tip. I'm also trying to get used to having my new roommate around at times I would usually have the the house to myself. Everything changes.

I went to Grand, but George wasn't there, so I just hit the bags for a bit. Then headed to sbg. Only Josh(who's got 40lbs on me) and I showed up for team. I started out our first boxing round with We don't have to kill each other. Not long after that I got caught with a hard cross. I hadn't sparred a south paw I a while and was circling the wrong way. You've got to be fully on top of your game when your in the cage with Josh. After that we pretty much threw light out the window. I think he only scored on my head a couple times in the rest of that round and the 5 rounds that followed. I'm especially proud of a left hook I landed, been practicing those. Still needs a lot of work. After boxing the best drill we did was were one person starts in the guard and tries to pound. While the bottom person pretty much just tries to get to standing. After Gym I rolled over to Slabtown to meet up with Dani for some pinball and chit chat.

5.27.2010

Ah where to begin I feel like a lot has transpired since last I typed up something about my self. I'm going to skip the back story and just concentrate on the last couple days. I've been feeling a little off lately for reasons I can't quite put my finger on or maybe lots of little annoyances have teamed up to mess with my mood. Tuesday I decided to relax in an attempt to lighten up. It was nice I pretty much just read and kicked it with D. I'm not sure it's true, but at the time it felt like I hadn't just whiled away a day in a grip. Wednesday was more productive. I busted the php book out and got Netbeans up and running. I recently switched my netbook over to Ubuntu linux. I had thought about making the switch before and even tried to make a bootable thumb drive. Finally getting viruses made me get serious about the switching from xp. So far I like the change. I also gave Andrea a new friend of mine a Thai massage. It's interesting the quality of the massage varies from person to person, or at least it seems like that to me. I need to get a Thai massage from someone long practiced one day. Then it was off to the gym. When I got there coach called me over and said Corey wasn't going to be coming to team anymore cause he wants to head out to Quest to spar with more bodies. I wasn't surprised by this since he mentioned wanting to get more experience sparring a bunch of cats rather than just the couple peeps that be coming to team at sbg on the regular. I'll still see him at Nemesis. Though I was looking forward to sparring him yesterday, cause I needed to pay him back for flash knocking me out last week. I ended up joining the gi class. After the class Daudi, Sanjay, and I got promoted to blue belt. When you get promoted you iron man everyone at the gym. For those of you that don't know that means you roll to submission with every person there one after another. Which is a humbling experience. Because you might get the first few people but then your getting tapped a lot. After the gym I went over to Tony and Amy's. D stopped by and we all watched the Orphanage. Good flick.

4.17.2010

Yesterday was way fun got up early and met Shane at the gym at 9:30am. We did some grappling rounds against the wall with David in the mix. We also did some real light boxing. Then it was back to the pad. I worked on some puter stuff in the backyard in the sunshine. It was an incredibly nice day. I jetted over to Tony and Amy's next, and checked out some of their pics of Europe. Amy and Tony had some funny stories from their time in Netherlands, Germany, and the Czech Republic. They brought me back a book in French that's a kin to the Hardy Boys. I bid everyone adieu and rolled back to the house to swoop gym stuff. We started out with 5 min boxing rounds then switch to jits from standing. I've got to work on stepping back two times max before pivoting with a quickness while throwing a right cross. On the jits side managed to lock up a triangle before switching to an arm bar. I got triangled after spinning out of back control to guard. After those two 10 min rounds we grabbed the pile boxes and did 350 jump or step ups. After taking a break for a bit I got a few rolls in with Joe. Mostly working on trying to lock up a triangle from closed guard or sweep. I'm planning on exclusively trying to work on my guard for the next couple months. I hopped in the shower and rolled over to Vendetta to meet Kendra, Chelsea, Joleen(plus friends), and Gigi(plus boyfriend). Was great hanging with everyone and they have Franziskaner on tap!

4.13.2010

Today was kind of a nice. Morning thing followed by massaging Billy, some flash card making, a Wire episode, then of to the gym. Gym was fun. Grappling rounds followed by boxing. I did take a knee to the forearm; some what unpleasant.

4.7.2010

Today's been fun. Talked to Anna for a while; love is a beautiful thing. Made some French flash cards, watched some of The Wire, started making my contact page better(functions better after button click visually), and went to the gym. The gym was not as rough neck as I thought it was going to be. I was the only one to show up for team from our gym. I ended up doing drills with a cat visiting from Stockholm with a splash of Ramone in the mix. I did have some really good rolls after that though. After I got back I went over to Cole and Cathy's. I borrowed a pair of Cathy's plugs that don't fit her. When I got back to the house, I watched an episode of Lost with Josh. Then sat down to write this. Bed time

4.3.2010

Spent the morning setting up the new router I got. Getting puter shit up and running is never smooth as it should be. Took about an hour, but now Internet signals good all over the house. Yesterday finally got up early and went to Grand. Nobody else showed up prolly cause they were getting ready for an event a couple of their fighters were in that evening. After Grand went to art museum with D and her roommate Mitch to see the exhibit Disquited. It was nice doing something artsy for a change. Then I got my shit together and headed to sbg. It was just Josh and I for comp team, and since Josh was going to compete in Subleague we didn't do any sparring. Instead we did some striking drills. Then a lady from sbg Iceland got promoted to purple belt. I managed to get a couple rolls in afterword, but it was a pretty chill day at the gym.

4.1.2010

So Tuesday attempt to get up early ended in an epic fail. I got got by the old turn the alarm off before you get out of bed mistake. Woke up with 23 mins to go before work, Doh! Least after work was fun. It was Steph's 29th Bday! I conversed a bunch and drank a little too much. Though I'd say I didn't go over the top. Yesterday was a little bit hung over. I watched Fantastic Mr. Fox which was great. It's funny seeing Wes Anderson look/feel/banter in an animated movie. I think it's his best flick since Royal Tenebaums. Then I watched Sleep Dealer a Mexican sci fi flick that was not that great. Also fit in an episode of lost after making a burger. Lazy day. I was talking to my roommate Josh and we both feel like the end of Lost will prolly be a let down, Once you're this deep it's hard to pull the plug. I recently finish season 3 of the Wire. Now there's a show that’s worth watching. 3 was the best season yet I'm kind of curious how they're going to follow it up. I case you didn't know no TV in the house is hooked up to TV. All my viewing is Netflix or Internet. Its funny most peeps I know are the same way and that has to be a small slice of the American demographic.

At the house I've been working on throwing jab left hook, and jab left upper cut combinations. Yesterday at team I tried it out some, though things were complicated by the fact that the whole time I was sparring Josh who's a southpaw and bigger than me. I think one jab left uppercut landed clean. Which tells me to keep at it. I've also been working on leading with a right cross followed by a left hook. With the cross I have to work on quickness, maintaining balance, and taking a big step. With the left hook I need to work on getting the distance right and putting my weight behind the punch. I have landed left hook real clean with no power behind it much to my dismay. I've also been working on footwork and yesterday I noticed I practice all my combinations moving forward. I need to be able to throw everything moving in reverse. I've got so much to work on and that's just stand up. On the groundside of things I've been trying to work on my triangle. Watching Sterns lock the triangle in on a cat yesterday showed me a couple things. Mostly how well he had the cat broke down so he could use his foot on the hip to get his top leg across the back of the neck. I also worked on sprawling and takedown posture. Class was a lot of fun and I almost didn't go do to the effect of Bday celebration time. I stopped by a bar a couple blocks away from the gym to watch UFC fight night with some gym peeps on the way home.

3.26.2010

Wore out another S-hook, so I got something new to keep the heavy bag up.

Lets start with Wednesday, the most beautiful day of the year so far. I lounged in the backyard for a while half reading, while listening to NPR. Before heading to NW to hang with Pearl. Before going to a boring work meeting. Maybe I should have started with Tuesday. Although the early part of the day that included working at noon wasn't memorable. Sean C.'s house warming party after was tight. It was kind of a farewell to Tony and Amy as well. Who are now on their European vacation. That brings me to yesterday. I pretty much got up, ate breakfast, headed over to Billy's new studio spot, got massaged, and jetted to work. Upon returning to the home spot I slipped Twilight Samurai into the DVD player. If you are a fan of samurai flicks I'd definitely check it, maybe even if your not. Ah and today. Lets see morning stuff mixed with hulu followed by a few hours of puter stuff with shadow/bag hitting mixed in. Gots to get a new s-hook tomorrow (It'll make sense when I put the pic up). Met up with Deanna, Cole and Steph with a flash of Cathy if you didn't blink. Clinton Street Pub and Dots were just like I remember them. Ended the night by Swooping the end of the Wire season three from Steph, with a little mail slot help from Deanna. It's been kind of nice taking a break from the gym. Monday I'll be back in action.

3.21.2010

It's been a good weekend. Friday was really productive and entertaining. I massaged Kendra, finally figured out a computer problem I was having(Yay!), went to a party at Tony's that was way fun. Yesterday I woke up early for no reason and watched A Serious Man. Good flick, but hard to recommend cause a decent section of people will be turned off by the lack of closure at the end of the film. Then took a nap; got up and went to work. After work I stopped by Deanna and Cathy's work spot. Then it was back to the hood. Kicked it with Cole We ended up watching Holy Mountain. Trippy flick, didn't finish it cause I needed to head to bed.

Read right before posting on 3.26.2010; made me laugh.

3.10.2010

This last weekend was Super fun; Anna visited! Yesterday Anna bounced after having breakfast with Cathy, Cole, and I. With luck she'll be back before the end of the Summer! After conversing with Cole and Cathy for awhile I watched The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Great flick I really like the panoramic landscape shots. While watching the movie I looked at some flash cards and wrote the beginning and end of an extremely short story. After the flick I ate and got ready to hit the gym. It turned out that I was the only one to show up to the 6pm strength and conditioning class. So I went through the circuit solo, and did a little rolling immediately following emerging from the gauntlet. In the middle of the circuit I was a little light headed and thought to myself am I going to pass out? Nope made it through. The rolls at the end sucked. When your real tired you see what you should be doing and can't. It's frustrating. The next two classes jiu jitsu and boxing were fun. Deanna came over a little after I got home. Hadn't seen her in awhile was nice catching up. Oh yeah my sis got jacked in the drive way for her purse at gun point at the house! She's ok and amazingly the po caught the guy. The car the perp rolled up on my sis in he had jacked from a lady earlier in her drive way. That ladies husband hopped in his car and followed. Which lead to the jackers arrest.

2.27.2010

Yesterday consisted of flash vocab, The Wire, training, and kicking it with Cole at one his friend's house. I didn't drink enough water after training doh! Just tried to take a nap and failed. I can see with the flash vocab it's going to take a grip, before I can use new words in everyday sentences. First I'll be able to recognize the meaning of a word when I read it. Considering the number of cards I already have made and the number I'm going to make. Damn! Hmm I need to take a longer view. I'm curious to see how many words I'll have added to the brain space by 2011. Got a new Thai cookbook in the mail yesterday. Now I need to go to an Asian market. Once my body and mind get back on line, hopefully this day will go good.

2.25.2010

Best biscuits I've made yet

Training was fun yesterday, put in 3hrs. I spent the first hour boxing. I boxed big Josh and Daemon, both of whom out weight me by at least 50lbs. Your allowable margin of error becomes super slim when your boxing a big boy. I also did some rounds with Cory who I out weight by 15-20lbs. Then it was a half hour of shadow boxing and calisthenics. Next got some rolls in before icc started. I'm happy with my bodies performance, cause I was feeling a little stiff going into the gym. On the jits tip I still make basic mistakes. The bitch part is the basic mistakes land you in the most trouble. The fact that I'm aware of this will help me tighten things up. It just takes mat time.

Tuesday I finished level 3 French Rosetta Stone. I'm going to start lvl 2 at some point, but what I really need to do is get into the French in Action workbook. Today I'm going to go over some vocab flash cards, before work.

Early in the week my mood turned dark. This is from my hard copy journal Today I find myself set adrift in a sea of pointlessness. Buoyed only well not only, that soon I shall wash up on the shore of determination and positivity. It's funny how even though nothing has gone awry my mood can dip so. I've been reading The Myth of Sisyphus, and I found this quote by Camus helpful Having started from an anguished awareness of the inhuman, the meditation on the absurd returns at the end of its itinerary to the very heart of the passionate flames of human revolt. I'm back on track yay!

2.20.2010

Yesterday skipped training. My back was a little sore, my left brow a little bruised, and I thought not many cats would be there due to wedding partying. Instead I hung out with Kendra. I gave her a massage then stimulated some acupoints for about 2hrs. She said acupressure lead to deeper relaxation. I'm looking forward to studying about acupoints in the near future. Then I made dinner and we watched a lost episode. I thought they were going to start answering questions. I fired up the 64 and played some Zelda. Then went over to Tony's house for awhile. We watched Canada beat Denmark in woman's curling. Joe stop over there for a bit as well. It was a fun day!

Today after the usual morning routine I had a distracted attempt at reading. Followed by some shadow boxing, a little heavy bag hitting, and a little calisthenics. After writing this and eating. I'm going to pack my lunch, studying my massage flash cards in preparation for a massage tomorrow, and bounce to work. I'm hyped about watching the fights from ufc 110 when I get back to the house. I think I might drink perhaps four more beers before quitting to get in scrap shape. :(

2.19.2010

Training Wednesday was good. I did 8 five minute rounds then a bunch of pile box exercises. I feel like my hooks and upper cuts are starting to come together. I'm going to have to start concentrating on my foot work more. I have to get better at closing distance to counter attack after moving to avoid getting hit. When I get good at that watch out. Shane gave me my first black eye since I've been training at sbg.

Wednesday was also Deanna's 30th Bday. I went to her house for a potluck. The food was great! Then we went to a strip spot to visit one of her friends at work. I was sitting next to D at the bar and she went outside to smoke. As I was looking at the naked ladies I noticed a dude two stools away wasn't looking at the ladies, he was looking at me. He made a comment about his fucked upness then said You look nice. He then half ass tried to slap my ass while I'm sitting on a stool. This had me cracking up. D comes back I tell her This cat thinks I look nice and just tried to slap my ass She laughs at which point the dude says I'm flirting with your boyfriend and she replies He's not my boyfriend before turning to me and suggesting we move to a table. Super ridiculous. After a while we headed to the Bonfire and then I dropped cats off at a little party that would be going deep into the night.

Last night after work I headed to Hamilton's wedding party. Was fun, bunch of cats from the gym there. Cory invited me to start coming out to Nemesis on Sundays to train with him and peeps on their open mat day. Which will be super fun! I had a few drinks, shot the shit, danced, congratulated the bride and groom, then bounced off to bed.

2.12.2010

Feels like it's been a long time since I've sat down and tried to write something. Been spending a lot of free time reading. At the moment it's mostly been 100 Bullets. A hundred issue comic book series. It's prolly the best series I've read. I'm already on issue 70. The series is themed crime, conspiracy, and revenge. If you haven't read it, get on it. I've managed to get the the classic Thai massage routine from Encyclopedia of Thai Massage down. Now I'm just trying to refine it, and possibly add a seated portion to get the massage to 2hrs. Cause I might be trading five 2hr massages for hand knitted socks. Cathy picked up The Foundations of Chinese Medicine from the PSU library for me. Part of the Thai massage tradition is acupressure. The Chinese medicine book is about what acupoints to stimulate and in what combination. I haven't gotten into the book yet, cause pretty much all my reading time is caught up in 100 Bullets at the moment. Hmm I've got projects started, now I just need to get more structured. Hopefully with more organization I can find time to get shit done.

Training's been going good. Wednesday I had my best mma sparring rounds so far. My clinch is getting better and I'm getting harder to take down. I've still got a lot of work to do on that last point. Pretty much everyday some part of my bodies sore which doesn't really bother me. It's the lip cuts that I find irritating. Seems like I can't go a week with out busting a lip up some. Just part of the price you have to pay.

I ran into a 1001 French flash card set I bought a grip a go. I sorted out the cards I didn't know, which was around 300 cards. Also I was at this second hand book store by work yesterday, and picked up La Chute by Camus for 5 bucks. I'm thinking of reading it instead of Le Peste cause it's way shorter, and will prolly give me about the same amount of flash cards per page. It's going to be a crazy mountain of flash cards I'm going to have at the house, and I've already got a bunch. Before tackling La Chute I gots to finish Beloved, and The Myth of Sisyphus.

I made a big pot of soup the other day. Finally using the turkey stock I've had in the freezer since Thanksgiving. It turned out real good. Been baking a bunch. I'm trying to get my loaf maximally risen, so far I have not succeeded with the new technique I've been working on. I have a feeling the third times the charm. Though I'm switching to quick breads for a little while. Tonight after training I'm heading to a bar in NE for Chelsea's bday. Should be fun! Just finished wishing my mom a happy 55th. Sounds like the fam's doing good. I'm really looking forward to going back to the D soon to see them.

2.8.2010

So I'm not fighting till April 10th. This is to work on my wrestling. I definitely need to get my sprawl on point. An extra month of tough workouts will only make me that much tougher to deal with. Yesterday was fun! I Skyped Anna, and went over to Tony's to watch the Superbowl. The bowl was good and the team I wanted won(Saints). I've been taking a mini break from training, cause I'm letting my back rest a bit. Tomorrow things pick back up again.

1.28.2010

Great day. Read a lot, Thai massaged Cathy, cute girl asked for my number at work, ate a little more than I should have, and stopped by the bar to wish Ahmed a happy 30th Bday. Don't got to work tomorrow, should be fun. Only got five more pounds to lose. Almost 2am time for bed.

1.23.2010

My four day weekend comes to a close. It was fun. I've read a bunch, Rosetta Stoned some, Thai massaged, trained, and spent a lot of time in the kitchen. The kitchen time is funny cause I'm dieting to make weight. I guess when I think about I prepared every meal over the last four days. Mostly stir fries and bread. I had a little scare when I tweaked my back, but it's been good. I even did some wrestling to take down yesterday. Last night I hung out with Eli and Ahmed who I haven't seen in a grip. I haven't really woken up yet so this is kind of strung together.

1.19.2010

My back made it through boxing no problem, praise be! There was a new upper cut bag at Grand, me likey. Worked left upper cut left hook combination and same on the right side for awhile. Gonna take the day off sbg to give back a rest. Now I'll have so much delicious free time YAY!

1.18.2010

Dryer and warmer than usual today. Started really eating less to get ready to weight in at 155lbs on March 6rh, and gave Tony a Thai massage. I'm almost done learning the classic routine. Then it'll be many moons, before I'm good at doing it. Did some sprinting today to work on my anaerobic cardio. Ended up tweaking my back, icing it now. I think sprinting might be off the table for me forever. So now I have to nurse my back, train like a mad man, and eat 1500 less calories a day. Ain't that some stupid shit. Can't even have a beer. I'm hoping when I wake up early tomorrow, to go to boxing it's feeling decently better. Stopped by Blakely's studio with Tony before work. Was nice chatting with him. The stuff he's working on for a show in March is pimp. Heading to bed soon. Cross your fingers for me. Oh yeah I turned 30 last week.

1.8.2010

I got up at 11:11 today. Got to hydrate cause the real tough fight training starts today. After breakfast I'm thinking about going to the bike shop to change my back break pads. I finished The Plague. Great book liked it a lot. I've got the French edition, and my initial foray into to it has yielded about 10-15 vocab flash cards per page. I'd like to finish it by 2011. I'll have something like 3000-4000 flash cards by the time I'm done. Learning the words before moving on is the hard part. I'm going to get back in the French work book soon cause I'm forgetting grammar. Not that I ever really knew it well. The more I try to grasp French. The more I grasp how little I know. Perhaps one day.

Training was pretty much what I expected. Rounds of me boxing Ramon and Dallas back to back. During the breaks I did squats. After that did three rounds of jits with Toshi. Had to do squats on the second one min break between rounds. It's funny all that was inside an hr. Time slowed way down inside the cage. Rounds go from 3 mins to eternity. Then did 10 reps of a kettle bell exercise with 10 clap pushups in between left and right side for 4 sets. Wondering how sore I'm going to be tomorrow? Kettle bell re-aggravated right shoulder muscle thing that had been bothering me, but since it was feeling good I forgot about it. Tomorrow taking it easy. Thinking about sprinting on Sunday or Monday. Coach wants me to do some anaerobic exercises three times a week. I just finished The Man Who Knew to much. Really good flick Hitchcock likes illusion a lot. Didn't make it to the bike shop, maybe tomorrow. Oh yeah fights on the 6th of March not the 3rd whoops

1.6.2010

Yesterday worked on kicks in the basement for about an hr, then made some Thai massage flash cards. Going to try, and learn the opening leg section before moving on to arms. Hoping to find a test subject by Friday. Hadn't worked kicks in awhile got rusty. I ordered Thai pads the other day I'm looking forward to being able to work legs with more realistic targets. I went to Grand and sparred a couple rounds with a pro. He took it easy on me though I did get hit with a heavy right hook. I feel like my punch avoidance sensibility is getting better in the pocket. It's a crazy feeling to be blocking and slipping punches while throwing punches at the same time. I've got to work on relaxing more in the ring. After that, it was off to SBG. If I had known it was going to be a cross sides top day I would have tried to pick a partner that wasn't 200lbs. I've been working on being heavy. When I'm holding someone down only my toes are touching the mat and the cat on the bottom has all of my 168lbs pressing him down. I've still got a long way to go but I feel like my top is getting better. I rolled with Cane the brown belt teaching the class. His reverse sit out is rock solid. I almost passed his guard but after my initial attack I seemed to be a move behind him. When you get swept you've got to be framing and shrimping immediately to keep you opponent from settling. Next time I see him I'm going to ask him to show me the shoulder lock he got on me from reverse sit out. Then it was time for more boxing. My right hand is a lot less game then my left hand. Gots to work on that. It's funny sometimes I stop boxing cats and just try an get in there an punch em. It's not even only when I get hit. So many things to work on.

I've been in a good mood lately. I think taking a break from everything that wasn't TJ's the week leading up to new years has added a layer of relaxation to my life. Only time will tell if I can maintain now that things are ramping up. I'm about to turn 30. It sounds funny to me to say that; sounds older than I feel. I have high hopes for 2010. For as much as things in my life have changed, much has stayed the same. It's hard to believe this June I'll have lived in Portland for 5 years. I wonder how many more years I'll be here till I leave for somewhere else.

1.4.2010

Je vais à la gym d'Eric aujourd'hui. Lui récemment commence enseigner jiu jitsu à sa propre gym dans nord du l'ouest. La merde c'est deficile typer en Français. La plus part la raison est parce que je ne peut épeler en Français pas du tout. Also having to insert special characters is a big old bitch. Spellcheck don't work quite the same way in French either. Some time when I have more time I'll have to give it another go.

1.1.2010

Yesterday after work I went to the Matador on Burnside for a beer and burger. Then bounced back to my spot to get ready to ring in the new year. Ended up grabing a couple beers from the fridge and crossing the street to say Hi to some neighbors who were out lounging on their porch. They ended up being Reed kids, and after a bit I bid them adieu. Then it was off to a cats soft store opening slash here comes 2010 party. Had a bunch of interesting conversations, and drank way to much. Today consisted of mostly bed and couch reclining. Eventually made myself a nice meal of steak, salad, and sweet n zesty lemon califollower. Think I'm going to read next. Tomorrow round noon Olivier's going to stop by for a little sparring session, before work. Should be fun!

12.30.09

Yesterday I went to see Avatar 3d with D. It was Great! 3D is badass now! If you haven't seen it in 3d, you needs to go. While we were in the flick it snowed 3 inches. That totally f'd the freeway. It normally takes 20mins to get home, took us 2 hrs. We did stop so D could get a space heater. Today's been low key. I've got a little bit of a cold. I did a little double end bag work, helped load a Uhaul, started a French flick(A Christmas Tale), and I'm heading out to meet some peeps for a beer. I've got to work tomorrow 10am-6pm, it should be an easy day.

12.22.09

Today I woke a little before 6am, son of a bitch. Made breakfast, and watched the first half of Ed Wood. Then it was off to bed till 2pm. That jacked me up. I spent the rest of the day before training wasting time, and darkly comtemplating life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness. Least I got one productive thing under my belt today. Did some writing besides this in a hardcopy journal. I'll share the first paragraph of the first entry, which I wrote some time round Summer of 08. The beginning starts out well, mind still troubled by activities of night preceding day. Damn so far behind the ball. If only things would work out as my imagining, dreamed of. Well now to deal with the coarse aftermath of realities burgeoning grasp on my life.

12.14.09

I talked to coach and I'm fighting March 3rd. I'm a little disapointed to have to wait, but I'll be that much more prepared on the day. Lately I've nocited my cardio has been pretty good in comparision to other cats I be rolling with. This makes me curious to see what it'll be like closer to the fight. The plan to read more has been going well I'm over half way through The Plague now. My mind seems cloudy right now. I've been slacking in my studies lately. I'm thinking of retiring from the social circuit to concentrate on things more throughly. Not that I've been running the street something fierce lately. It's hard to know when to be like a blade of grass or freight train. How much to let change change you or how much to change change to your will. Maybe it's more being able to recognize when your powerless and when your pivotal in the cascade of moments.

12.09.09

I'm drinking decaf now so as not to have the caffeine sully my hydration levels. Yesterday I trained for a little over three hours. I felt great the whole time. Timed my meals with beginning of classes and wasn't hungry. Well a little hungry in the first boxing class. I'm down to 164lbs. Finally managed to finish off that NYC doc. The 8th disc was about the twin towers. From 60's conception, 71 completion, and 2001 destruction. It was intense, all the footage of the day mixed with my memories of watching it live. I think I'm going to take a break from watching stuff for a little (with the exception of an occasional Simpsons episode off the season 4,8 discs Tony let me barrow) and concentrate on reading. I downloaded Say it ain't so for my ring tone the other day. Silly I know, but I love that song. Today I talk to my coach about fighting in January. I really want to scrap then, and put so much hard work to the test. I've started making flash cards from reading Le Monde(online French New York Times). I'm still a little tiny bit bummed about all those cards that got jacked. I think I'm going to make a loaf of bread today. Hopefully I can get the yeast to flour ratio on point.

12.04.09

Hungry! Not bad but constant. I've started dieting cause I want to fight for the first time early 2010. I find out prolly on Wednesday what the deal with that is when I talk to Mat. Was at Eric's grand opening this evening. Pearl stopped by we ended up going to the Matador to shoot some pool. I hadn't seen her in awhile it was nice. Been going to Grand to work on the hands. Got caught the other day with a right upper cut left hook combination while trying to bob and weave my way in with my hands down. Gotta keep them hands in the right spot. Other than that it was a good sparring session. I tried to get up at a decent hour today but snoozed for an hour and a half instead. I made my first turkey this year. Turned out good though there always room for improvement. Went To the bar to celebrate Tony's 30th birthday. Kendra was in the mix, another lady I haven't seen in awhile. Hopefully we'll get a chance to lounge again soon. The x-mas music started at work on the first. Usually I can block it out, but a few times I found myself dancing to it while helmsing lol. I went on a date last week, trying to turn the friend corner. I'm kind of tired, I feel like I'm not really saying much. Going to try and get back on the blog horse. It's been slipping lately. I've only got 1hr of that 16hr NYC documentary left. Gonna try and kill it tomorrow. Great doc I wish every major city had one. Night night

11.20.09

Home gym

It been an interesting day. Morning stuff combinated with documentary watching Then it was downstairs for some bag work. Practiced combinations on the Mexican style double end bag(Msdeb) with bag gloves on, was fun. Then put on 16oz glove and went back for more. Only to realize heavy gloves prolly lead to heavy punches. Then it was time for right mid Thai kicks to the heavy bag. Started work on doubling them up, then did a min of just double. Shower, stretch, and meditation later. I'm making food. In between stretch, and meditation I conversated with Anna. Thangs is coming together on the east coast. My mind didn't really start to settle until just before the 15 min alarm sounded. After a quick Thai inspired stir fry was hastily consumed. It was off to boxing at Grand. Bike ride and 40 block two max stop ride later I'm wrapping my hands. I'm using two wraps now. One to create a knuckle bumper the other to cinch bumper down and support the wrist. I hit the bags up for a little after shadow boxing. Then Olivier and I sparred three rounds. His hands have gotten a lot better. I got caught with a couple rights. Payed him back some and mostly maintain the center of the ring. George(coach) was a little disappointed neither of our games was fully on point. Then headed to jits. The class didn't go over new material but it's stuff I've been thinking about. Rolls where good. This cat Joe triangled me twice and arm bared me once. I managed to summon the energy to hold top on him for bout 5 min. So much of our rolls were me in half guard top. I got greedy went for some barbwire and was back to trying to standing pass his guard. I called it quits Joe said Good to have you back. :) I hopped in the shower before heading to Cole and Cathy's. Kicked it, watched some STNG, and Family Guy. Cathy made soup but it was cream based, I could only eat a taste. It was good. We were whisked away by their friend Jessie to the Red Room, to hear the band Asteroid M. That bar happens to be kitty korner from Grand who would have guessed. Oh yeah the pen was out when I went to close my tab. I asked for another. Moments later for some reason I decided to hold the pen between the fingers of one hand and break it. Clear plastic fragments flew about a little, as the pen shattered. The look the bartenderess gave me; I know not to do that again. Now time for H2O and bed I think maybe.

11.19.09

Today I didn't train at all. Relaxed, watched part of a documentary, went to Powell's, and picked up Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Over my weekend I boxed both days and did jits one. Tomorrow I'm thinking of going to Grand and SBG back to back. Got a double end bag the other day and borrowed a Mexican style one from the gym. I'm happy I gots one. It's funny the other day I realized I'm in the middle of my own social revolution. Changing social connections to people I care about. Hmm I'm to tired to write more. Damn turkey working on me

11.10.09

Yesterday talked to my niece on her 8th Birthday!! Slept in till noon today. Did morning stuff. Chatted with Anna for a little. Then headed to basement for some heavy bag work. I put in the best 3, 3min rounds of straight boxing yet. Didn't mix any kicks in cause I'm trying to let my knee relax. Next I'm going to do some stretching before trying some meditation. after that it's off to the store for dinner veggies. Then hopefully I'll be able to force my self to study for awhile. I think I'm going to order a double end bag on Thursday. It'll be nice to have two bags so I can very my workout more. Plus my experience hitting the double end bag or I should say trying to hit it. Has shown me I could use some work on my timing and accuracy. Billy turns 30 today! Going out to celebrate later!

11.07.09

Weekend two, day two. I'll try and give you a quick synopsis of weekend one. Went to jits for the first time for a whole class day one. Followed by boxing. Day two went and trained with fight team then rolled with some cats. Unfortunately tweaked my knee in the fight team class. Then I went to the Bye and Bye to meet up with Kendra, Tristen, Jolean, Chelsea, Rachel, and Rachel's friend. Knee's feeling a lot better I should be back boxing next Tuesday. I'm way hyped about the Fedor fight. Yesterday read Loeb and Lee's Batman. Having recently read Frank Miller's Dark Knight the plot seemed a little to comic booky. Today got up around nine made buttermilk biscuits to go with my usual breakfast fare. Watched some HBO John Adams mini series with French subtitles. Worked out on the heavy bag for about an hour. Then tried my hand at some meditation for the first time in a while. I was distracted and found sitting hard. I'm going to have to get serious about adding it back into my daily routine. I feel slightly off my game today. Like some element of my usual temperament is missing. Then I hopped in the shower, threw some cloths on, and sat down for some reading. Along with a beer and some hooka. There was a little mini nap in the mix as well. Now I'm thinking about going on a beer run and possibly watching Shogun Assassin when I get back. Decisions decisions

11.1.09

Tuesday read the Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee. The first time I read it I was 17. Reading it then after taking a little martial arts I didn't really get the finer points of the book. Now I'm going to have to read it at least a couple times. So far my favorite quote from the book is Before I studied the art, a punch to me was just a punch, a kick was just a kick. After I'd studied the art , a punch was no longer a punch , a kick was no longer a kick. Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch, a kick is just a kick. After that day I headed to boxing with only two goals breathing on every punch and relaxing. It's crazy how much that upped my game. I had more energy and my mind was less clouded by tension. I also tried drawing my opponent by exposing targets and moving away to entice them forward. I'm interested in practicing fighting moving backwards mostly because I'm usually attempting to create pressure.

Wednesday I went to Grand Ave a straight up boxing gym with Olivier. I spent two hours working the heavy bag, speed bag, and double end bag. Coach would stop by every so often and correct my mistakes. At one point he tied a rope between my legs to keep me from widening my stance. I'm really looking forward to sparring(getting beat on by) the cats there that are a lot better than me. Only way to really get my game up is play with highly skilled peeps. After boxing met up with Kendra and Deanna at Rontoms for a little.

Thursday I worked then hung out with Tony and Amy.

Friday I went to a surprise Bday party. I got kind of faded luckily I was only about ten blocks from the house.

Yesterday I worked and it turns out really weird people go grocery shopping Halloween night. After work headed home not feeling the holiday vibe. Hit the heavy bag for about an hour and a half. Figured out a new weapon. Lead leg side kick, glad I took some Karate at 16. Bruce Lee was a big fan of this technique, and while back I saw Cung Lee using it well in a fight. I'm thinking throwing it to opponents lead thigh or hip. Now I have to practice the shit out of it and continue to work on integrating punches and kicks into a cohesive whole. I really need to do some kickbox sparring soon. Oh yeah I have a blister on the bottom of my right foot from pivoting to kick on cement. Lucky for me it's small and not bad. Gotta start getting ready for work.

10.23.09

Spent most of the day practicing French and cooking. Made my first challah today, and my second tomato sauce. The yeast I used in the bread was expired so it didn't get as big as it should have. Next time. Watched Appaloosa . It was not bad not great, but I was feeling the western vibe. This cold just won't quite. I hope I'll be snot free by Tuesday. Cross your fingers for me. I'm heading over to Tony's in a bit. Poe poe found his car, that got stole way close to my house weird.

10.22.09

T shirt by Lord Blakely

Yesterday went to the Bye and Bye with some peeps. I might have made a new friend, out of a friend of a friend. Only set back was drama sparked off between one of my peoples and a recent acquaintance of their's. Damn drama

Today got up did my normal morning thing. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get everything done I wanted before heading to work. Now that I have to be at work an hr and a half earlier. Getting up early is even more important. Work was pretty fun for the most part. Practiced some French with a co-worker and two French custos, on my lunch break I picked up a shirt a friend of mine made , energy levels, and mood were elevated for most of the shift. After work headed to a spot I used to dance at on the regular. It was really fun to get out on the floor and shake the body. Too bad the other cats in the crew weren't having fun. I ended up bouncing early. I want to be productive tomorrow, and I'm saving my energy for boxing.

10.21.09

Old and new s-hook for holding up my heavy bag

So much has happened since last I wrote. First off I caused a bunch of drama between a couple friends and me. Jason causing drama, I'm as surprised as you. Luckily everything has worked out and besides the lessons learned I'm pretty much past that ill fated episode. I also went on a date with a lady. It was fun, but has since fizzled. I watched a little bit of a 16hr documentary on New York City at Tony's house. It was real interesting now I gots it in my dvd queue. Recently I went to the gym and trained with the fight team. Our opening drill was standing in the center of the cage with a person in front and behind you. You go up to the front person punch them once then take them down (they don't resist the takedown) then you go to the person that was behind you and do the same. Next you return to the person who was in front and punch them twice and take them down. Their moving and slipping to make it hard to land the punches. This keeps going till your landing ten punches on each person with a takedown. That was so tiring. Need to get my cardio up for real. Next we worked on hooks in close. I've been working on getting in close to opponents with some success(close like a foot or less space between us), but I'm still having a hard time generating good offense there. By good offense I mean damaging power punches. I can throw crappy rabbit punches that aren't going to hurt anyone. I'm going to start really trying to work the right upper cut to the head from close quarters. I've already started working on it shadowboxing. It's funny you shadow a punch 1000 times, you hit the bag with it 1000 times, and you'll hit a person with it clean maybe twice in a class sparring.

Yesterday listened to some news, worked the heavy bag for about an hour(right mid thai kick feels like it's getting better), practiced a little French, went to see Moon with Ronnie, Tony, Amy, and Jolean(Tristen showed up but forgot his I.D), grabbed a couple drinks with Jolean after the flick, and met up with Billy and Jonas for a min after that.

Today my only plans are to tackle some PHP, read a little, and go to a boxing class with Olivier.

10.4.09

Friday I went on a date with a girl who asked me out at work. Turned out she's twenty. The young twenty. It's funny I forgot how hard it is to be out late at night in cold weather when your under 21. Saturday went to a party with Tony, Amy, Steph, and Tony's friend Aaron. It was fun though we were a couple cats short of being half the peeps there. The guy who's apartment it was, was a little nutty. Which made things interesting. Today Deanna came over for breakfast then it was off to work with not enough sleep. Highlight of the day was getting a cute girl's number. I gotta get up earlier than usual tomorrow, to go to a muay thai gym in NOPO with Olivier. Night night

9.30.09

Yesterday chatted with Marty an old friend and once roommate in Michigan. It was nice catching up. Then coached Billy for a couple hrs, cooked a nice chicken veg soup, did some sparring drills and practiced a little French with Olivier, then cycled to the gym for a boxing class. Class was good, I always learn some thing. Picked up some tips on how to stalk and draw an opponent. Learned my left upper cut has a tell, but I think with some for thought I can turn it into an advantage. I have an attacking style, and coach said I need to work on trying to game my way in rather than forcing it. When I got back to the house Kendra had arrived back from her visit to Michigan. Tomorrow she moves into a new crib in NE.

Today I made french toast, potatoes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast. I'm taking a break from training till Friday to let my body sort it self out. I've got my php book out, hopefully I can get through a chapter today. I didn't sleep really well last night and I'm limiting my self to one and a half cups of coffee a day now. Grrr. I'm not going to eat sugary things at work any more either, and since I rarely purchase sugary things that should pretty much cut them out of my diet. Trying to treat my body right.

9.25.09

I got an email today from one of my best friends Jessie. It's always great to here from people you love. Especially when they have big things going on in their life, maybe that's why she's come up in my mind space a bunch lately.

I started teaching another friend boxing this week. She's a masseuse and is going to trade me massage yay! I've been working on my kickboxing. Turns out the biggest thing I have to figure out is how to switch from boxing stance to kickboxing stance. It's going to take a bit to be able to change back and forth fluidly. Boxing stance you feet are wider and both your toes are pointed at your opponent. Kickboxing stance your feet are a little closer together and only your lead foot is pointed at your opponent. It's funny how really small differences in stance can really change how fast your able to kick and how easy it is to turn your hip over. If ya didn't know your hips is where all the power of the kick comes from.

I made dinner for Amy, Tony, and Deanna the other night. It didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped but I did learn a thing or two. After some after dinner lounging Deanna and I went to the strip spot to see Cole's band play. Which is neo soul inspired, and pretty good. Funnily only Cathy and I saw the whole cabaret, cause everyone else either had to get up early or was trashed. Saw some great juggling, poi, yoga inspired pole dancing, and titties!

Yesterday was funny I had a lot of errands. All of which got accomplished, with having a crick in my neck and getting a flat tire downtown. It's nice when road blocks just lead to pleasant detours. Work was even kind of fun. Tonight's Pearl's 23rd Bday Yay!

9.20.09

Night before last Cole, Cathy, and Deanna came over. I made a couple Thai dishes (beef salad and a curry). The salad turned out pimp, but the curry wasn't the best I've ever made. We ended up lounging in the backyard around a fire. Later Billy stopped by for a bit. Before all that I had a nice sparring session with Olivier. He's helping me with my kicks and I'm helping him with his hands. Speaking of kicks today I figured out the left leg Thai kick after a bunch of practice. I want to start working on a switch kick, cross combination. Maybe even a switch kick, double leg as well. Today I'm real well rested, I think work might be fun.

9.18.09

Mini Fro

Recently went to a dinner party at Deanna's new apartment, followed by a trip to a strip spot to see Cole's band play. Unfortunately I missed Cole's set, but I did get to eat my first silkworm pupa. Last night after work I went to a private midnight showing of 9 with Tony. Story line was a let down, though animation was tight. Today been lounging. I managed to study French for a bit, before talking to Anna who's in NYC now kicking it with her bro. Olivier should arrive presently for some sparring, and I think I'm going to BBQ some food later this evening.

9.14.09

Kendra's back, and she's been staying with me before her return to Michigan for a fam visit. It's been real fun hanging avec elle. Last Friday Deanna, Cathy, Cole, Kendra, Brian, and I went to see the swifts. It was bad ass! Little birds swooping around in massive formations, avoiding hawks. Then dive bombing into their roost chimney. Check it out if ya get the chance. This last week feels like I've been on vacation even though I've had to work. Yay it's my Friday!

9.07.09

Saw this near the house

Spent some time talking to Dad the other day was real interesting. We have very different out looks on some things, and it was fun to compare notes on how we see national/global events unfolding. I miss the Fam. I think I might be back in the mitten this Winter or Spring.

Yesterday I had a realization that seems like a no brainer. As it turns out most of my friends are ladies, while I love my friends unbalance is unbalancing. So I'm planning on developing deeper relationships with males in my mix. This is something that has occurred to me before, but I've not really acted on the recognition. We'll see how ma vie passe when I have more yang in the system.

Last week was not very productive, and I have a feeling this week will follow suit. I' am really hype though cause tomorrow Kendra gets back into PDX, Deanna moves into my hood, and I'll be hanging with Krisalyn for perhaps the last time before she heads to S. Korea. My minds eye is already imagining myself rededicating to the tasks at hand next week.

9.6.09

Breakfast

Yesterday ended up spending time with Deanna. She had gotten broken up with, the night before. Cathy was on the comforting a friend team as well. Not really feeling very writey right now. Perhaps tomorrow I'll be able to press the alphabet finger buttons in a pattern that opens a better window into my world.

9.3.09

Last two days off have been pretty relaxed. On Tuesday I worked on some web stuff, ran some errands, and went to boxing. Boxing was fun it illuminated things I need to work on as always. Crashing in worked well, but the rabbit punch I threw once inside didn't do much damage. Coach suggested I concentrate on throwing one punch on the inside then circling back out, or start clinching. As always I've gotta get my cardio up. Yesterday I lounged, read, went to brunch with Steph and Tone, went home and read some more. Eventually I went over to Cathy and Cole's neighbor's house for a little. Deanna fresh back from the mitten showed up. I ended up leaving and going to Powell's on Hawthorne for a little. Where I finished up the Season of Mists volume of Sandman, before meeting Deanna and Cathy down the street for a drink. Some where in between leaving my house and leaving C and C neighbor's my mood had become ne pas bien. I was still pleasant but I wasn't really having fun and decided to call it an early night. Today I feel fine. Work should be aight, and tomorrow I think I'm going to check out a boxing/kick boxing class at another gym with Olivier. Tomorrow is also my Dad's 61st Bday!

9.1.09

So I just came off a jam packed three day weekend. Day one I went to a BBQ with Jolean, Cathy, and Cole. It ended up being a leaving at 6am drinking adventure. Day two went to a wedding at the top of MT. Tabor with my cousin Keisha and her friend Devon. The reception was aight. I had fun talking to cuz and Devon. Then it was back to the house for a nap, before heading to a bday gathering at Stark Street Pizza. It was pretty funny when I got there only to find bday boy behind counter working with 25 peeps in the banquet room chilling. Kicked it for a while but when they left to go to 111th and Halsey I bounce back to the cut. I ended up watching Coraline before turning in. Slept in the the next day, lounged, and hit the heavy bag. Then headed out to a bar to meet up with same crew for a bike ride. We kicked it at the bar for awhile, and then biked up for the the ride. Only to cycle three blocks away to the corner of a parking lot. After shooting the shit and consuming a bunch of alcohol we eventually made it farther a field. We ended the night chilling in a caveish rock alcove on the Willamette. The only bad thing was that through my own stupidity my saddle bags got jacked. Interestingly I'm not really that pissed. Today I managed to replace all the crit shit for less than I expected, and Kenny loaned me one of his portable bike pumps. I think the worst thing I lost was about 300 hand made French flash cards. All in all I feel like my resilience was tested and I passed. It's one thing to say material shit doesn't really matter it's another to not get shook , when inanimate objects you possess suddenly cease to be in your possession. Do you own things or do they own you?

8.28.09

Got both the girls I'm teaching boxing together for the first time today, and watched Inglourious Basterds. Going to a BBQ later. Yay weekend!

8.27.09

Every so often trying to get things to work is tough

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc. from Talking Loco.com on Vimeo.

8.25.09

Went dancing with Pearl last night. Been awhile since I seen Pearl or went dancing. Was tons of fun! Slept in today, but still had lounge time before Krisalyn rolled through. I showed her some defensive boxing techniques, before doing some sparring drills. I'm hoping to have her and Cathy train together a couple times, before she heads to S. Korea. I talked to Kendra the other day. I'm excited she's going to be back in town in a couple weeks. If you haven't, you should check the twitter of Eden and her adventure http://twitter.com/edenleonard

8.24.09

So far today's been pretty productive. I got up, made breakfast, listened to some news, got a text form Anna in South Africa, worked on French for a couple hrs, and hit the heavy bag for about 40 mins. I started the heavy bag workout thinking it'd be real light, but turns out it's hard for me not to go all out. I worked on the hardest punch for me to throw: right upper cut. I should prolly practice pivoting followed by rolling in to get better when I'm away from the bag. It's funny most people don't like being covered in their own sweat, but some of my most enjoyable activities involve getting soaked in it. Back feels pretty good today, icing it as I type this while sitting in the backyard sun. Monday's my favorite work day, and Emily is there so I'll get to practice some French avec elle. Oh and in case you didn't know I love hip hop!

8.23.09

Hmm just started chapter three of php mysql, hit the heavy bag for about an hr, and listen to some news. Good Sunday morning/afternoon.. Lately I've been missing Freya a lot. Over a year later. and still; sad feelings pop up when people mention her name. I've started meditating more recently. Trying to reach deeper in; letting the ripples of emotion ebb and flow until calm abides.

The heavy bag workout was good. I worked on incorporating defensive movements into punch combinations. With a couple feints here and there. I work all this week till Friday, cause one of my cousins in going to be in town. That means I'm going to have to wait til next Tuesday to really see if my practicing is making a difference. Though I might spar with Olivier on Friday. Work was OK today. I did impress a German girl who knows French with my French. Which reminds me I need to get back to studying. I've gotten side tracked with web learning. My back is kind of tired tonight. Hopefully when I wake up it'll be well rested. Night night

8-20-09

So lets see since last time. I've went to see Mystic Journeymen, gone to the river, gotten a cute girl who doesn't have a boyfriend's number, finished an HTML & CSS book, gone to the gym to box, watched some tru blood, and started a PHP mySQL book. Also you'll notice some changes on the site. You can now directly email me from the contact page, and there's an archive. At some point soon I'm going to try and get the background looking descent. Hopefully I can get more regular with these up dates futuristically.



I really like the Head First series they do a great job of making information easy to use

8.13.09

Yesterday started kind of late cause I was awoken at 4:30am by shin splint pain in my right shin. I ended up getting up twenty mins before one pm. Which was just in time for Krisalyn to drop by for a boxing lesson. We worked on right cross, left hook, and right hook. Turns out Krisalyn's leaving to teach English in South Korean sometime in the next couple months. We watched the first couple episodes of True Blood. They were pretty entertaining I'm looking forward to watching disc 2 sometime soon. I managed to put together a photo gallery page, it even has a older pic of me you can see. In the evening I met up with Deanna and Jolean for some drink and chat action. I really like hanging with those ladies, our convos are always interesting. I got home and couldn't sleep. I've noticed the next day after a hard workout I have trouble sleeping. Weird I wonder if that's common or just me? A decent part of my body is sore I forgot about that feeling. Today post breakfast going to work on bringing my back foot when I move forward, angling after throwing, and mixing various feints into combinations. Which will improve my elusiveness, my ability to open up my opponents defenses, and keep my base from getting stretched out. Why is providing health care for everyone in this country so hard ARGGG, because 70 percent plus of peeps have health insurance through their work they don't care about the ballooning costs or the cats who don't have it. Lobbyists pouring big bucks to maintain status quo. Lotta peoples complain about bail out. I doubt all that money was well spent, but I wonder what would the economy be like with out it. Somehow I don't think drastically lowering taxes would have bounced us back. While I don't think of my self as a Republican or a Democrat. It seems to me the Republicans have lost their way. Appealing only to those with a deep set fear of any change, and an interest in increasing governmental power as a reaction to fear mongering. There is no return to Main street. 51% of people in the world live in cities now, that small town middle America demographic is dying. The fact that Republican propaganda was about returning to a past that was better, rather than a future that's brighter. Show's me they've become reactionary rather than visionary. Damn some news and a couple cups of coffee. Gets me spouting off all willy nilly ;)

8.11.09

Today managed to get back to business. Killed off a chapter and a half of the HTML & CSS book. Only one chapter to go, prolly finish up on Friday. I'm going to jump back into the French books tomorrow. I also went to boxing today. It was way fun. I out boxed some big cats which is always nice, and got some new things to work on at the house. My back feels pretty good. I'm icing and heating it now, hopefully when I wake up it's aight. I'm planning on boxing again on Friday if every things cool. Tomorrow should be fun I'm meeting up with friends for a drink and chat. :)

8.10.09

20's party

Weekend two was fun. Friday went on a mini bar hop with Deanna. We hadn't hung in awhile it was nice to shoot the shit. Our time out and about ended by stopping and buying one of my roommates a bday shot. Next day me and said roommate went to bar to watch ufc 101. It was great seeing Silva lay a beat down on Forrest Griffen. After fight I went to Heidi's roaring 20's bday party. I over did it a little both days. I still feel a wee bit under brain powered today. Perhaps tomorrow I'll be back on track. Tried to converse with Anna on Sunday via phone but we were both somewhat hung over and there was a 3-4 sec delay from me to her. Last week was all about fun, starting tomorrow it's back to the grind.

8.6.09

Weekend one is done, and it was tons of fun. Spent most of my time lounging :) Even dusted off the old ps2. I gots to go to work today then weekend two begins. I think I'll try and be more productive. Though I did get a decent amount of reading done. Gonna go to a local hip hop show tomorrow, and watching fight/going to party on Saturday. I did start training another friend of mine to box. Krisalyn's first day went good. We worked on stance, footwork, and jab. It'll be good for Cathy and her to train together at some point. I did some light sparring with Olivier Tuesday. We did some kickboxing which hardly ever gets worked on at the gym. Next Tuesday I'm going to box at the gym YAY! Hopefully my body will let me start boxing three days a week. I've been wanting to working my standup. I talked to Anna yesterday vie phone from South Africa. It was nice conversating though we didn't have mad time. I think we're gonna convo again sometime in the near future. The roommates and I interviewed a cat who is prolly going to become our new roommate. It's to bad our three person one house set up is coming to an end. The new guy seems nice, and he works 9-5. Which means I'll still have the house to myself most of the time. I just ate 3 eggs, 2 potatoes, and 3 sausages ahhh the fullness.

8.3.09

Today's my Friday, lucky for me I've got two Friday's this week. The last week was interesting. Mostly because there were a couple days in a row where I was melancholy. Concurrent days of downness is really unusual for me. I think a combination of being haunted by ghosts of past unpleasant experiences, a feeling of unsureness of how to proceed, and being unable to train is part of what catalyzed my ill humor. It's funny how black makes white seem whiter. :)

7.30.09

Today's my Monday after a three day weekend. Which was great. I managed be productive, and kick it with a bunch of peeps. Day one read some Harry Potter en Francais, kicked it in the kiddie pool in the backyard, lounged with Cathy/Cole, and checked out a new dive with Stephanie. Day two I made flash cards of the words I underlined in Potter cause I didn't know them. I've read through chapter three and I'll prolly have made close to a 140 flash cards. Making them wasn't super go go gadget so I took a break. Laid in the kiddie pool, sipping on a beer, and listening to the radio. Later that evening rolled over to Tone's house. Day three got up round 10am and got ready to head to the River with Tone, Steph, and Mike. The River was Awesome there was a sand bar in the middle that made the water knee deep. We set up chairs there, drank beers, conversated with our down river neighbors, and generally had a rivertastic time. Then it was off to the bar to meet up with Deanna, Cathy, Cole, Faith plus her man Dustin, Jolean, Billy, and Robbie. It was great to see everybody, plus $1 corn dogs and pbr yay! :-) Today it was back to work for a 10am to 5:30pm shift. Which is a shift I don't work hardly ever so I got to see peeps I almost never see. Time flew by as well. Then Olivier stop by the house. I hadn't seen him one on one for so long. We ended up watching a Jacques Mesrine film. That cat was a bad ass mo fo! I feel like I'm always trying to write this before bed., and it's kind of sucky. Hmm maybe at some point I'll be able to focus on word craft. Tomorrow having coffee with Chanin in the morning night

7.25.09

Yesterday after work I headed over to Billy's friend D's house. The three of us sat in the backyard chewing the fat next to the fire. It's funny how close Billy lives to my house yet how little we hang out. Going to have to do something about that. I'm not really sore from yesterday exercises. I gots to turn it up a notch tomorrow. Which is my Friday. I've got a three day week end Yay! I might go to the river with some peeps. It's supposed to be a 100 out.

7.24.09

I managed to crank out 8 sets of 5 pull ups, 20 girl push ups, and 30 crunches. Time for breakfast followed by some french study. Then it's off to work early to stop by the chiro before clocking in.

7.23.09

This weekend was a lot of fun. I've been pretty productive studying french a bunch in the morning/ afternoon/evening. I've been following that up with some out and about. Day before yesterday met up with Jolean, and we conversed on the subject of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I was good to hang with her. We haven't kicked it mano a mano in a grip. It's funny we're both segwaying from irresponsible pasts to productive members of society. Each in our own way. The weather has been bad ass, lots of sun and heat. Yesterday met up with peeps for dollar corn dogs and pbr. It was the first time Brummer, and I have lounged together outside of the work place. Also it was the first time Alex and I have met up as well. Chelsea, Deanna, Harvest, Brummer's roommate Susie, and Robbie from Weedstem were also in attendance. Portland's finest mobbed the spot. I'm heading back next week. I managed to get some calisthenics in before heading out, all upper body. It was the first time I've done any working out in a while. Didn't hurt my lower back at all. I'm planning on doing a bunch sets tomorrow. It would be tight to return to training stronger then when I left. Around 3:30am got a call from Pearl who was at a party near my house. She ended up staying over, and having breakfast avec moi. Right now she's napping I gots to wake her in a little. Just phone convo'd with Kendra who's about a third of the way through her coast of Oregon hike. She's chilling with Eden in Newport, after a 13 mile hike followed by a 25 mile one. She's glad for a chance to relax. Starting my return to work voyage in about an hour. I think it should be fun. My mind is slightly clouded from the pbr consumption last night. Lol.

Work was good. I picked up a book on Van Gogh and a bowl at William Temple thrift store up the street from work. The bowl's for a plant of mine. Which recently hasn't been doing well, and I think it's because it's out grown it's bowl. Hopefully I'm right. I've had it for a long time with no problems, and I'd hate to see it die. I said Hi to a cute girl in the backfield while stocking cereal. I thought I recognized her but wasn't quite sure. We exchanged quick pleasantries, and I went back to work. Only to get one belled up to the register. On my way I pirated her from Arlen's line. Turns out I met Faith at a party awhile back. She said Sorry for not returning my call back then cause she was in a melancholy life spot, and didn't want to drag anyone into her bad time. I think we might hang out soon.

7.19.09

I woke up early today to work on coming up with the idea for putting art up in my section(coffee tea). Hopefully this will be the last time for a while I have to work on work stuff at home. Got it done, and it turns out the cat I was set up to go over it with is on a mini vay kay down in Cali lol. After finishing that stuff I made a nice stir fry to take to work. Work ended up being ok even though I was a little crabby. Being injured and getting up early are never a good combo. I was thinking just before writing this about the last time I was limping around. When I pulled my groin. Luckily I'm almost limp free now. Tomorrow's Friday I can't wait for the weekend to start.

7.18.09

Abby and Deanna at the stencil table

Lets see I found those books in the so obvious you don't see it spot. Went to the chiro again back/leg feeling better than before. Took off with Deanna to go to Weedstem 8 Friday morning. Weedstem's a festival some friends used to help put on in MN, but last year they lost their space in MN due to the sale of the property. Now it's 30mins outside of PDX. Weedstem's basically cats spinning hip hop and M.C'ing in a rural spot with peeps camping for a weekend. It was way fun. To bad I only could get one day of the weekend off, but hey some is better than none. When we got there we set up camp; Deanna has a nice four man tent. Then lounged, drank beer, threw frisbee, rode tiny bikes down hill, played with squirt guns, listened to vinyl, etc, while trying to stay out of the sun's 95 degree heat. We took a couple cars to go swim in a river. The lead car went in a big circle, and our ride decided to roll back to the site rather than continuing the adventure. They did get to the river eventually. It was good to see some kids I hadn't seen in a long time, and I really enjoyed the whole outside all day thing. Though it did get cold at night, and I only brought 95 degree day time cloths. Lesson learned. Work was pretty easy today we got out early. Early is also the time I'm going to try and get up. Night night.

7.15.09

Went to the Portland art museum with Pearl and Cole yesterday to check out the Escher exhibit. It was kick ass saw stuff I hadn't seen before. I really liked how they had some of the studies he did trying figure out how to do things. Also I had no idea most of his work was wood/linoleum block prints. They had some of the blocks. One of which was for the snakes pic. He carved all that crazy! If you live in pdx go check it. After that went to Powell's ended up getting first Harry Potter en français. First I hung out in their coffee shop and finished off sandman vol. 3. Was the first time I've lounge there. I'm going to have to hit it up again at some point. I just started reading sandman and so far that shits pimp. Then it was off to boxing class. I was a little sad Alex and Shane weren't there to beat on me. Other cats showed up and it was a good time. My at home heavy bag workouts paid off some. Still need to get my cardio up though, and I REALLY need to remember to breath while punching. That's going to be my mantra next class. My right upper cut needs a bunch of work too. I think training with fight team on Fridays starting in August will get my hands a lot better. Couple things that went well was keeping cats head busy with a couple punches then going to the body with a right cross, and using my clinch initiation skills to crash in and work the body. This was suggested by Alex to stuff your opponents hands. I just have to watch out for upper cuts, hooks, keep hands up on the break, and throw a punch on the fade out. I gots lots to work on. A couple times during open sparring peeps punches went through the space where my head used to be just missing me while I'm throwing heat back that's landing. Those are great moments. That's not to say I didn't get caught in the face a few times.

Went to the chiropractor today for the first time. He cracked to hell out of me. Turns out I have a sprained L4, and L5 vertebra. He seem pretty confident I'd be better in a month. With something like 5 more adjustments, and stretches at the house. Yay! Got home after taking the bus cause both my tires were flat. Worked on throwing right cross, and angling after punches with Cathy. Headed to bike shop and picked up two tires and a tube. Got home started making food, and called Deanna about going on a bike ride later. She just happen to be in the hood so she stopped by and had a bit to eat. I got to try the raspberry habanero jam she brought me a jar of. After much relaxing the two of us biked to the NE to meet up with Jolean, Harvest, and Tone for drinks on a back patio. Jolean, Deanna, and I headed back to the SE after a while. On the way home I got hit by biker who ran a stop sign booking it at a T intersection. Glad I was wearing a helmet. The guy wasn't hurt and gave me his number so he could pay to have my wheel trued. Which was the extent of the bike damage. It's a little bit of a bummer to get slightly injured went trying to recover from a different injury, but at least I'm not that banged up. It seems that some where between Powell's and the house I lost the book Cole lent me, and the French Harry Potter. I hate losing things. Deanna and I got back to my house; chilled for a min in the living room with my roommate Josh. Then it was off to a bar by the house to meet up with Harvest and a couple of his friends. All in all it was a fun day. I think I'm going to just relax, and watch a movie before work. Something I haven't done in a long time.

7.13.09

So I stopped by Pearl's house after work. We just lounged and conversed. It was really good hanging with her. I think we might kick it more often in the near future. When I went to leave I got a flat tire a couple few blocks away. Ended up heading back to Pearl's to spent the night since I didn't feel like fixing it at the time. Woke up around 9am walked the bike to work for free coffee and a spot to bust out tire levers. It was funny seeing the work peoples who come in at 4/5am that I never usually see. Plus the fact that had just gotten up made it a little surreal to be there. Switched the tube and headed out only to get another flat in Ladd's Addition lol. Sat down on a bench outside a coffee shop wished Elva a happy birthday via cell and got out the levers again. I wasn't really put out by the inconvenience of getting flats. It has been so long since I've got a flat that it was kind of fun fixing them.

Managed to mostly figure out drop down css menus, and get a session in on the heavy bag before heading to work. Work was pretty good even though I was in the box. I think I've got this site's layout pretty much finished till I read two more books. Me tired time to sleep soon.

7.11.09

After work last night I hung out with Cole while visiting Cathy's new job at a fish and chip cart downtown. The cart is actually really spacious which surprised me. So far she said most of their business comes from office peoples lunch time. I chatted with Cole, then we went to grab some beers. I had forgotten what downtown is like on the weekend. Drunk people wandering, loud music, cats on the make, girls all dressed up, and a strange vibe you only get when the suburbs pour into the city for a good saucy saucing.. I think I'm going to go to 4 days a week at tj's starting in August. Oh the extra free time I can't wait and I'll be able to hit Friday night stuff up too. Having finished some beers we rolled back to the fish cart for more chatting and a sample of their wears. Then it was time to mount our two wheeled unmotorized vehicles and head east. On returning to our hood Cole decided to stop by and check out some ufc 100 fight action. We watched Hendo take Bisbing's head off with a big right. Cole headed home and I headed to bed.

7.10.09

Pearl and I

The past few days have been fun. Sleep's back to normal thank god. I stopped by the gym just to check out what techniques were being disseminated, and got to see Hans get promoted. Then I met up with some peeps at a bar near the gym, and surprise surprise Pearl joined the gathering. I haven't hung with her on the east side in 9 million year. After a bit Hans, and some cats from the gym rolled through. Some other kids were hanging deeper in the NE, but I was to tired to make it over there. Yesterday I went to a yoga class before work. I'm thinking of turning yoga in to a Thursday afternoon thing. Oh yeah I figured out the bookmarks css flyout menu. That took longer to figure out than I thought it was going to. I'm going to have to try my hand at css drop down menus at some point. On an extremely positive note I think I'm going to be back to training before the month is out. YAY! I conversed with moms yesterday. Sounds like things are going well with the immediate family. Though moms mom got run over by grandpa Joe. She's OK no broken bones. Crazy; I hope to never run over my wife(fingers crossed). Today before work I plan on studying some french, working the heavy bag in an anaerobic fashion, and meditating. There's not enough time in the day.

Hmm work was more worky than usual today. I've been thinking about taking Fridays off starting real soon. I set up a chiropractic appointment for next week, hopefully it'll be extremely helpful. Me going to bed soon.

7.7.09

Yesterday got up round 8am got ready to teach Cathy boxing. Was chilling in the back yard wrapping hands when Cole and Cathy roll up we conversated for a while before Cole heads to Gladstone coffee. Cathy, and I start shadow boxing. After we get done with everything I head inside make some breakfast, and study french before taking a three hours nap starting at noon. I get up and read in the back yard. The essay excerpt I finished was interesting(The Impasse from Bread and Democracy in Germany(1943) by Alexander Gerschenkron). It was on how Germany's protectionist agrarian policies hindered the rise of democracy and helped lead to WWI. By pissing off Russia with unfair trade practices, causing a rapprochement between the Ruskies and Great Britain. Then when their protectionism lead to a smaller grain stockpile than was considered war ready(Wehrwirtschaft) they went free trade putting them into competition with the other powers exacerbating animosity. Then I tinkered with some infuriating web shit, and got ready to head out to boxing class. After class I headed over to Cathy and Cole's. To drink some beer and shoot the shit. Something I just wondered is with gun and ammo sales up 30% since Obama's presidency began. Has the NRA become more powerful as a lobbying organization? A cat I know who has a roscoe says people out there are buying ammo by the pallet. I wonder how much of that's speculation due to rising demand verse peeps who need enough rounds to fight a small guerrilla insurgency. Personally I wouldn't mined having a shotty round the house in case the dead rise, and I have to keep shuffling brain eaters off my property.

So far today I've slept in till noon, listened to NPR, made breakfast, read the adventure updates of both Kendra/Anna, and wrote this.

7.5.09

Slept finally whoot whoot! Crazy what a difference that shit makes. Yesterday was more fun than I thought it was going to be. I guess when you mix people you like a lot, booze, and carte blanche to be as loud as you want while kicking it in someone's front yard till late in the night. How can you not have fun. Today I woke up and wasn't hung over to boot. Didn't really get much done round the house besides some straightening, breakfast, and news listening. Which reminds me I need to listen to This American Life tomorrow morning. Road into work got to NW early tried to stop by a couple friends works but they weren't there. Ended up Rosetta Stoning in the old sign room for a bit before clocking in. Ran into a girl I hadn't seen in a while. Started up a convo, and just as she started to say I've met your before I was like your name's Alex right? bingo. The funny thing is I have a terrible time remembering the name of random cats I meet. Turns out she's dating a fella, but she gave me her number. Perhaps her, her man, peeps, and me will all lounge sometime soon. This all took place in the midst of the four o'clock face, and after Alex bounces out the aisle Chris P. says if you get three numbers I'll give you ten bucks and I'm like bet. Two more numbers later he welchs on the we didn't shake on it tip. Lame, but hey made things fun for a while. Ironically I'm not even sure I want get into the dating scene. I'm torn between doing my own thing, and wanting a cuddle partner. I think if I don't over think things, and let what happens play out organically. I'll gravitate to where I'm supposed to be at.

Found out I have had a Twitter account since 2007. When I went about checking out Eden's updates as to her and Kendra's progress hiking the whole Oregon coast. They left Cannon beach yesterday and are headed south. Sounds so fun. I need to go camping sometime soon.

7.3.09

I just can't get a full nights sleep for some reason I woke up today at 7 am, and my attempt at a nap two hours later did not go as well as planned. Every couple few months I have a two or three day period of fucked sleep. Funny until right now I had forgotten about the last one. Well perhaps tonight SLEEP. That being said I'm not crazy out of it. I did get to chat with Anna on facebook for a sec before bed yesterday which was nice. Sounds like she's getting a bunch of stuff in and having a great old time. Tomorrow's the 4th of July, and I don't really care. I'm working from 1-6 after which something fun will prolly be on the menu, but I'm not really feeling it. While the 4th has never been a huge deal to me: the excuse to while out until recently has been something of a sirens call. I can remember ten years ago thinking I'd always be knee deep in the party scene lol. I just hope my further evolution doesn't involve becoming a crochety old guy. Looking at dad I don't gots much to worry about on that tip. I picked up a little bonsai tree yesterday. Hopefully I can keep it alive for a few years. I really want to drop a couple bills and get a huge one, one day.

What I'm reading now

Anna lent me this. I likes it alot.

Cole lent me this. I'm curious what's going to happen when E.T.'s collide.

7.2.09

So after yesterday's class and a half my leg doesn't hurt that much which is good, but I'm still going to take a month off from jits. I really want to try to get my leg back to full operating capacity. One thing I did notice yesterday is that I have been using attributes to make armbars and triangles happen. I really need to get technical with my movements. Hung out with Deanna, Steph, Tone, and Amy. Drinking and conversation was the order of the day. I did introduced Deanna to Cowboy Bebop, hopefully she likes it half as much as I do. I kind of tired didn't sleep well the night before, and last nights drunk sleep wasn't to restful. Guess I gots tonight's sleep to look forward to. Another nice thing bout jits break is the added reading time. It's almost breakfast time Yay!

7.1.09

Yesterday was Kendra's last full day in pdx before leaving today to hike the coast of Oregon(Oregon coast trail). She, peeps, and me went to a free Butchers and the Builders show followed by drinks at the Bonfire. I made her a quick breakfast, and some coffee. Before walking her to the 17 bus stop so she could meet up with her hike compatriot downtown. I'm going to miss her

Jits is going real good. If I go to two classes tonight I'll have trained 5 times this week already. Annoyingly my left leg is still hurting I'm thinking bout stopping by the doc's next week just to check it out. It's crazy frustrating my bodies good to go except for my damn left leg. ARGGGG! I'm thinking bout just dealing with the pain until after Oct. 24th which is when the first after the Summer fight is. Right now as I'm writing this I'm debating taking July off, and going all out in August/September. Hmm.

I haven't really started messing with the ladies yet. Although there was this one girl who came into my work. We talked for prolly 15mins wandering through the store. Then she went through my line at which point I asked her out, and she said My boyfriend prolly wouldn't like that. I replied Your right he prolly wouldn't , but upon leaving she said Don't worry I'll be back. Lol sounds like she's keeping her options open. On the friend tip if I take July off I'll get to kick it with cats I like a lot more. Speaking of friends; hung out with Pearl the other day. Was real nice hadn't had time to really catch up with her in a little, and then she cruised through my work with a good looking gent. I need to call her up today.

6.27.09

I've been thinking about how different my life is from what it was, and how different it is from what I assume the average persons is like. I wonder if at some point I'll stop grasping, and just settle into being one of the masses with not a care in the world. In the mean time today's break day just lounging round the house watched the watchmen earlier, stop by Cole and Cathy's for a bit, now studying some French. This next week I begin my two classes a day at the gym experiment. Accept for Tuesday. Gonna hang with Kendra before she takes off for the Summer. Gots ta work in a bit. Going to have to cut this short. The time for preparation to leave has snuck up on me.

6.24.09

Today was really fun. I slept in till 11:30. Listened to some news while making coffee, and headed to the backyard to read after starting breakfast. It was way nice outside today. The weather doesn't often perk me up that much but for some reason lounging in the sun with a good book really hit the spot. After breakfast was done started in on french learning. Took some breaks to surf the web here and there. Found a hilarious thread on somethingawful.com of pics that are creepy. Then packed up jits gear, and headed out. My fav thing we worked on was drilling were you could only throw jabs or shoot a takedown. Which went nicely with yesterdays class on takedown and takedown defense. Then we all lined up against the wall and coach call out brooks to get promoted from white to blue belt. He then rolled with everyone in the gym. Three other cats got promoted to blue belt, and Chris Sterns got promoted to purple. I tapped the cats getting promoted in short order(although I didn't get to roll with two of them cause they rolled only with blue belts, and up for time reasons), and almost got Sterns though if he was rested I doubt I would have done as well. Then I looked at the clock, and realized I was late to Pearl's house, and in my rush to bounce I left my helmet, lights, and hand wraps. Looks like I'm training tomorrow to pick them up. Hanging with Pearl was way fun. Hadn't seen her in a while. She made taco's we conversated and watched a flick. Then I cruised back to the pad, and read Anna's first blog entry about her South African adventures.

Mixed in today's activities were moments of contemplation. Not all of them happy go lucky. I'm wrestling with how to connect to peeps and yet remain focused. This is funny cause connections isn't something I've had to deal with in a long time.

6.20.09

Today pinic'd with a ton of family. It's kind of funny hanging with a bunch of peeps you've never met but are all related to you. Every first time a convo starts up it begins with my dad's so and so I'm related to you this way. Turns out I have beaucoup 3rd cousins. I was kind of tired from going out last night and not sleeping so well, but I still manged conversate some. I took a little nap on the floor of the office of the union hall our reunion was at. Some of my cousins and sister and autumn went out to eat but I was still full from all the brisket I ate at the reunion. I kind of just want to chill and not hang any more. Vacation to me needs some part where your just do nothing but read or similar laid back activity. My bro ended up sticking around as well. Maybe cause we haven't been around each other much for about 10 years . It's harder to get our conversations flowing. Speaking of things that aren't flowing the writing thing right now aight jumping out my finger tips. I'm really looking forward to reuniting with friend cats tomorrow

Got up went to the waffle bar again I was the only cat from the fam to make it up that early. Though I was joined by my Bro, Sis, and Autumn in short order. After breakfast we all headed to the pool. Autumn had just put pants on over her swimsuit. We met up with cousin Brian and Chris pool side with their kids along with their Mom aunt Deborah. I grabbed my book and watched Autumn swim in between reading while Erin packed up. After dipping my toes in I decided against jumping in and just lounged poolside. After awhile we said goodbye to aunt Mildred, her daughters, Sam Jr, and his daughter. Everything got packed into our rides and the Lanes and Buntner's went out to lunch before going our separate ways. I hugged Dad, Erin, Ethan, and Autumn goodbye as we headed for our different gates. I'm going to miss them. Now I'm sitting in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport waiting to bored a flight that's been delayed by 30 mins. I'm definitely over traveling and am looking forward to being back in my hood. I'm supposed to be meeting up with Kendra, and possible Pearl later this evening. That'll be a nice way to start out the return to everyday living. The fam seem pretty good to me although Dad's using a cane intermittently. Ethan's starting to really think about moving into his own place. Erin's all mom'd out. I hope they can come out to pdx and we can kick it one on one just doing fun stuff. These last few days have been the most relaxed I've had in awhile. I almost forgot how nice it is to kick your feet up and lay back for a few days.

6.17.09

Tomorrow I head to the airport to meet up with Dad's side of the fam! Should be a great time. Can't wait to hug Dad, Bro, Sis, and Autumn. It's funny that my mood isn't better considering how close I' am to departure. Perhaps the melancholy is from peeps leaving town for perhaps forever. Hmm we'll always have facebook. This makes me think about the fact that I need to visit DC some time soon, and kick it with Nate and his new bride. It's seems real rare that I'm in a bad mood, but unavoidable they are at times. Least when I'm on the other side I'll appreciate serenity more for a little. Yesterday was real chill. I did my morning thing then hung out with Jessi, Deanna, Victor, and Billy. It was nice to see Jessi and Victor off. After talking to the peeps their busing it to rainbow gathering with. I'm thinking it would be fun to go. I hope the bus holds it together.

Now I can say I've been to Texas even if it was only in the airport. Family reunion adventure has been pretty low key so far. Though I was surrounded by babies on the flight to here. Lucky for me they were mostly well behaved. Airport's always provide interesting people watching which happens to be an activity I likes. I'm kind of curious about the weather outside to bad I won't get to experience Texas heat, but I'm pretty sure that Ok city will be on blaze. It's going to be interesting not having anything to do for the next three days. Funny that I would use the word interesting to describe lack of work. Wonder what I would have done with same time off but without leaving pdx. In January I'm planning on having three days off a week but thats only so I can accomplish more of the things I'm about. These little entries will be funny to look at in a couple years. Kind of wish I had been journaling since back in the day. I have yet to go to an airport that is strikingly different from other ones. It's kind of like cats convened and decided on similar rows of seating and color skeemed.

Arrived met the fam their all real nice. Got to kick it with my bother, sister, and autumn a bunch. Man Autumn has grown a ton. She's on a whole different level. Bro, dad(who retired early, and I'm hoping to spend time with tomorrow), sis all look real different. Gonna have to try and keep up on the visits in the future especially cause dad isn't getting any younger not that I think he's going to kick the bucket any time soon, but we're each at an unique point in our lives. My bro who's staying in the same hotel room as me just accused me of cheating at spades cause he's salty bout getting whooped on.

6.14.09

Yesterday was way fun. Woke up early for no reason, and studied some before heading out to work for a 10am shift. It was weird being at work early seeing cats I never see. Dealing with all the oldsters. I have to say the night vibe in the store is a lot more my style. I gots to go to work later today. Lucky I'm not hung over. So I bounced out of work at 5:30 and headed over to the Belmont Inn to watch ufc 99. Which wasn't as live as I had hoped. Valasquez vs Congo was another display of the dominance wrestling has on the sport. Franklin vs Wanderlei was good but with out the finish felt underwhelming. It would have been nice to get a decisive victor. The other fights on the card were pretty lame, but I wasn't really expecting much. After fights I rolled over to Anna's going away gathering. It was good to see her, and say bye. I'm looking forward to seeing her pics form South Africa. Maybe she'll throw up some NYC pics too. Then I went over to Matt's bday party, and met up with two of my fav peeps Kendra and Deanna. I managed to get on the good foot a little yay. Met a cute girl and got some digits. I've been having luck running into pretty ladies.

A couple days ago I was looking at moving to Atlanta. Turns out there's a Alliance Jiu Jitsu gym 3 blocks from a Trader Joe's on a MARTA line. Though I won't be in a position to leave PDX for a while. Mostly because I really want to get my purple belt before bouncing, and that's years away. I seem at an interesting point dans mon vie. About to flip 30 chasing a dream with my body starting it's downward spiral. Least I'm at the top of the spiral, and I think it will be a good ride. It's funny the more I know the more I know I don't know much. It's kind of comforting limitless possibilities or should I say marginally limited possibilities if I want to be a realist. Friday I'm going to a family reunion in Oklahoma City. I'm really excited about see the fam. I was just looking at pics of Autumn the other day on facebook and she looks so much more mature then when I last laid eyes on her in person two years ago. Can't wait!

6.12.09

Lots has transpired in the passed ten days. Miss communication lead to some drama, and since my life has been so drama free this was a big deal. Luckily everything was sorted out and things are cool. Being in an unrelationship has taught me a few things. One of those things is that history plus an intangible something created from together but not makes things more complicated. Would I roll that way again? I suppose is depends on the girl. I met a pretty/cool girl, and went on a couple dates. Both of which ended up at the strip club, and now I have a fav stripper. Pisces damn that girls got skills.

Just as my left foots feeling better managed to bust up the right one practicing low kicks. Stupid shit I know. I feel like I've been on point studying Francais but I've been letting computer shit, and reading slip. Keeping the course is difficult. Maybe there's not enough time in the week to cover all the bases. More likely I haven't got a plan on lock and battened down.

6.3.09

Jessi, Victor, me lounging on Katelyn's porch.


Anthony, Eli, and me hanging at Food Not Bombs.

Me tired and slightly buzzed, but had a real good day. Jessi one of my best friends got in from Spain to attend the vbc and kick it. She is accompanied by her Spainish boyfriend Victor. Who's learning English and coming a long quite well. Deanna swooped them from the airport this morning, and we all hung out for a while till Deanna rolled out to a lunch engagement. At which time the three of us walked/bused to get Jessi's bike from Katelyn's house. We ended up lounging on Katelyn's porch for while waiting for someone to get back to the cut. Plans were made, Jessi got a quick lesson in juggling, and we soaked up some sunshine, Then it was off to Kendra's another one of my best friends. Who was hanging with Deanna post lunch. There I fixed Kendra's bike brake issue and pumped up her tires before heading to the bar for a drink before getting dinner at Food Not Bombs. I ended up getting a hamburger at the bar cause I was starved and my experience with Food Not Bombs(fnb) has been someone who eats a ton like me should prolly not show up with a seriously empty stomach so as to leave vittles for others. Fnb is an anarchist project to provide free food daily for pdx peoples. I should include a link to their website so those interested can hit it up. .Today they had sushi, spring rolls and lemon aide which was whey tasty. After everything was gone a cat pulled up in a truck with box lunches left over from the jr rose parade. I ended up being stuffed. :) Eli and his visiting friend Anthony met up with us there and after shooting the shit with peeps for a while we rambled over to Scape Goat where Kendra and Deanna were getting some ink put on. We all climbed into their big couch and went through their tat books while Deanna was under the gun. We ended up bouncing before she was finished. On our way back to my house we took a bike break to listen to some cats practicing folky bluegrass in the middle of the big round a bout in Ladd's. More relaxing and hanging followed

Hmm earlier in the week I almost got knocked out training with fight team, sprained my big left toe going for a far side arm bar in a freak mat toe twisting moment,(interestingly another cat jacked his little toe maybe 10mins before mine got hurted) I finished the Hobsbawn book, started playing Chrono Trigger, and went to a Melvins show.

5.26.09

Today got up, lounged around the house, and played some super punch out on my new netbook. After getting whooped on by Super Macho Man I put the troller down. Damn, and I can remember when I could kick the shit out of him. One day soon he will rue the day he laughingly flexed at me. After that watched the season finale of lost. Which was pretty fun. I'm mean once you get passed the ultra ridiculousness of the time travel. your stuck wondering how the hell they gonna get back to now. Then it was off to the basement to work the heavy bag. Started working kicks. Which need a lot of improvement, but I think in time they could be pretty snappy. Definitely my focus is hands though. The fight Andre Gusmao vs. Krzysztof Soszynski at ufc 98 perfectly illustrated kicks with no hands is no good. I gots to say it's always nice to see someone get KO'd in a main event. Especially when there's a title on the line. Now we have a Lyoto vs Rampage fight to look forward to. That'll be an interesting match up. Plus if Anderson Silva takes out Forest, he could be in contention for the 205 belt at some point. I'm also looking forward to the Wanderlei vs Franklin fight coming up. Back to what I was up to. Ran through the grocery and rolled over to Anna's for lunch. After spending some time distracting her from studying. I jetted over to psu to peep a fashion show one of my besties Kendra was walking the cat walk in. Show was fun got a free t-shirt, and Kendra look'd real purty. I checked out the after gathering; conversated for awhile before heading out. All in all damn good day.

5.23.09

After cutting my hair I some how managed to get wickedly sick. Totally not fun. Mostly me laying down imagining future wellness, but hey the future is now. Yaay! Threw up some pics so ya'll could check the doo chopped low state. I'm really looking forward to returning to the gym on Tuesday. I think I'm just going to box, but I'll get some jits mat time on Wednesday. I've been watching some leg lock youtubes hopefully I'll be able to land one. Fight tonight should be a good one. Something to look forward to.

5.16.09

In the midst of the work week. It seemed today peeps was trying to rile me up, but I think my mood was slightly off kilter. After some mindful breathing things calmed down. Ended up having lunch with a friend, and running into a cat I hadn't see in a while. On a different subject, me thinking about reading up on the Democratic Republic of Congo. In concert with a friend, whose got to do some writing on the area. Should be interesting. If I end up writing anything I'll post it here.

5.14.09

Let's see I cut my dreads off(I need to get pics up), talked to coach about fighting in the cage for the first time in September, saw crazy legs spin breaks, worked, and kicked it. Now me tired.

5.13.09

Lunch

Yesterday got up, ate, hung out with a pretty girl, lounged in the sun, worked on some web stuff, went to a Brazilian jiu jitsu, and a boxing class. Class was good we worked on passing with double under hooks. Which is a pass along with knee over I've started working on getting better at. To pass with double under hooks you've got to be up in the guard. My initial instinct is to stand, and try to pass using mobility. Boxing was fun too. The drill that sticks out in my mind was the 2 min round were one person can only punch with the left hand, and the other cat can only use the right hand. Interestingly I felt more at ease just using my right hand. I think cause I could move to avoid left and throw some power with the right to keep my opponent away. I remember thinking that with only one weapon your usual game plan is severly lacking. The more I box the more I like boxing. The two things I really need to work on are elbows in tight, and exaggerating hands up. Then I hung out with one of my bestfriends who I haven't kicked it with just her and me for a while. Hanging with her always puts a smile on my face.

Today I'm going to practice French, play some Go, go to MMA class, fight team class, and relax with some peeps. Thinking about reading for a while too. I'm close to finishing books. Strangely I'm tired even though I slept pretty well. Doh! I really need to hydrate.

5.12.09

What I'm reading now

Book two of a kick ass, three part history of the 19th century. Hobsbawm blends facts, comentary, and economic data. In a way that gives you a good picture of the geopolitical, and societal landscape of the period.

Got this at Goodwill for $2. Being a big fan of the Oz movie, thought I'd give it a whirl. I have to say it's alot better than I was expecting.

I started playing go a little while ago, and suck at it. So I picked this up, in hopes of improving my game. The book's great we'll see if I manage to gain some ground on the battlefield.

5.11.09

So I'm putting this site together to work on my writing, and web skills. For a while I've thought wouldn't it be nice to be able to put pen to paper with out reading like a Neanderthal first discovering sticks make dirt pictures that help others understandy me. As of yet I haven't done anything to get better :( I figure web journaling's a nifty way to practice crafting eloquence, and get some technical savvy under my belt(insert dirty personification joke here. I did). The idea of putting personal info on the net for any Tom, Dick, or Harriet to read feels slighty strange, but hey every one's doing it!

5.10.09

It's late. Sleepy time.

Hi